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Contact Info
Last Address Arlington National Cemetery
Date of Passing Dec 14, 2001
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Last Known Activity:
HUGH BLANCHARD VICKERY
Upon graduation, Hugh reported to TRENTON (CL-11). In August, 1941, she escorted allied merchantmen in the Pacific approaches to the Panama Canal, and in December, 1941, escorted troop ships to Australia. In August, 1942, Hugh reported to Bath, Maine, for the commissioning of USS TAYLOR (DD-468) as gunnery officer. After a minimum shakedown, TAYLOR was off to North African operations. Next it was through the Panama Canal and a year of nightly battles around the Solomons as well as frequent air defense actions; TAYLOR was an early fighter director ship. Along the way, TAYLOR caught RO-25 on the surface in Kula Gulf and sank her with gunfire. The squadron transferred to the Central Pacific in time for Tarawa and Halsey's first raid on Kwajalein. In mid-December, 1943, back in San Francisco, Hugh was ordered to MAYO (DD-422) as XO, but MAYO took torpedo damage in the Med and Hugh never caught up to her. While awaiting orders in BuPers, Hugh married Dorothy Borden (Penny), whom he had known since dancing school days. He was ordered to GAINARD (DD-706) and she joined the fleet just in time for D-Day at Okinawa (1 April 1945). Though not specially fitted as a fighter director ship, GAINARD served more days on radar picket and as fighter director ship than any other ship present, all without damage by kamikazes.
As the war ended, Hugh took command of USS METCALF (DD- 595), one of the last Fletcher class. He then reported to the Naval Intelligence and Language School for instruction. After learning French in four months, he was ordered in 1948 to French Morocco; as Asst. Naval Attache. 1950 saw Hugh back at sea as the CO of ELLYSON (DMS-19) out of Charleston, SC, and later of SIGOURNEY (DD-643). ONI then made its claim on Hugh for the time he had spent in their school. He served in ONI for three years and then three more at sea on the 7th Fleet Staff. His last fling in the Pentagon started in 1958 in OP-6O. He retired voluntarily on 1 December 1960, and they moved to Greenwich, CT, where he worked for American Machine and Foundry, and later for Bankers Trust Company on Wall Street. In 1962, he got a chance to join CIA, a very interesting organization, but by 1969 he had had enough. He was eligible to retire under CIA rules and did so.
December 19, 2001
Hugh Blanchard Vickery, 83, a retired Navy commander who did intelligence work at the CIA from 1962 to 1969, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 14 at the Collington retirement community in Mitchellville.
Cmdr. Vickery, the son of Vice Admiral Howard Vickery, served in the Navy for 24 years before retiring from active duty in 1960 from the strategy, plans and policy division in the office of the chief of naval operations.
Other Comments:
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Okinawa Gunto Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories In mid-December, 1943, back in San Francisco, Hugh was ordered to MAYO (DD-422) as XO, but MAYO took torpedo damage in the Med and Hugh never caught up to her. While awaiting orders in BuPers, Hugh married Dorothy Borden (Penny), whom he had known since dancing school days. He was ordered to GAINARD (DD-706) and she joined the fleet just in time for D-Day at Okinawa (1 Apri1 1945). Though not specially fitted as a fighter director ship, GAINARD served more days on radar picket and as fighter director ship than any other ship present, all without damage by kamikazes.